This post features the Laos folk instrument stamps from 1984. That year, Laos created a series of postage stamps featuring seven musical instruments on six stamps. Many countries have issued sets of stamps depicting instruments This blog has featured a 1966 set from Ethiopia and a 1983 quartet of stamps from Nepal that you should make sure to check out!
Scott # LA 529
Laos is a landlocked nation in southeast Asia, and shares borders with China, Myanmar, Vietnam, Cambodia, and Thailand. From the late 19th century until 1953, Laos was a protectorate (colony) of France and has only issued stamps since 1951. Now, let’s explore the Laos folk instrument stamps.
Khong Vong
The first stamp in this set features a set of pot gongs in a circular wooden rack. The player sits in the center of the set and uses mallets to hit each pot on the central knob to create a sound. The instruments are related to the gong-chime culture found throughout southeast Asia.
Metropolitan Museum of Art
Many of the instruments found in Laos are also in use in Cambodia and Thailand. Traditionally, many of these instruments play together in ensembles known as piphat (Thailand), pinpeat (Cambodia), or pinphat (Laos). In Laos, the name for the gong chime set is the khong vong.
Laanat Ek
The second stamp in the series is a xylophone with its bars on an ornate stand that curves upwards on the ends. In Laos, the name of the instrument is laanat ek and it also appears in pinphat ensembles. The player sits behind the instrument and uses mallets to hit the wooden bars.
Kong That
The third stamp in this series features a pair of drums also from the pinphat ensembles. A single musician plays both drums by beating them with wooden mallets. In Laos, the name for these drums is kong that.
Kwang Yao
The next stamp is another drum, known as the kwang yao. This is not an instrument of the core phinphat ensemble. It is used in processionals and other music, worn on a sling so the player can move. The drum is played with the hands.
Kong Taphone
The next postage stamp is yet another Laotian drum. This is known as the kong taphone and it is another instrument of the pinphat ensemble. A musician plays this instrument with their hands (one hand on each head) and can accomplish very intricate rhythms with their hands and fingers.
Khene and So U
The final stamp in the series features two instruments of Laos – both melody instruments. The khene, a bamboo free reed instrument (like a harmonica) that is perhaps the most the most important instrument indigenous to Laos.
This wind instrument is depicted alongside a stringed instrument that has a coconut shell body and skin head. The so u has two strings and is played with a bow.
Below is a performance of a traditional Laotion pinphat ensemble using many of the instrument featured on the 1984 stamps series.
